Gas sampling apparatus



t 31, 1933- G. H.HALvoRsoN GAS SAMPLING' APPARATUS Filed May 16, 192'?`rlI-IIIIIH.

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Patented Oct. 31, 1933 UNITED STATES 3 Claims.Y

The invention pertains. to a gas sampling ap-` paratus, andmoreparticularly to one for taking samples of a gas at predeterminedintervals during` a long. determined period; of time.,

An object of. the invention is to providefa. simple, inexpensive. and'compact gas samplingl apparatus. for intermittently sampling gas for anysuitable and chosenperiod of time.

Another object', is to provide a. device to obtain a uniform pressure ina part', thereof preceding the gasr sampling container regardless of anyline pressure that may exist.` l

Stilll another object. is to provide a device to bleed gas in` suicientquantitiesv so that a representative sample is obtained even though thesampling apparatus may be located at some. distance from the gasv main.

A further object is to provide a gassampling device to, sample arepresentativey amount ofgas from a main, said device being of suchcharacter that there can be no backing up of iluids in the device.

With these and' various other objects in'view, the invention may consistof certain novel features of construction and operation, as willbe 4morefully described and particularly pointed out in the specification,drawing and claims appended hereto.

In the drawing, the gure is a Ymoreoruless diagrammatic sectionalelevation of certain parts ofY the. device.

A gas inlet pipe 1 communicates through aV one-Way Water seal 2 to a,substantiallyV W- shaped pipe 3, 4, 12. its center leg 4 extending intoa containerY receptacle 5 which isA sealed by any suitable means, asplug 25', except for apertures for the inlet and outlet connections.Said container has a oat valve 6 movable on suitable guides 6l and hasra mercury seal 6a in the top thereof. Said valve, cooperates with a Vgasoverflow or waste pipe 8 Which is connected through a one-Way water seal9 to'the exhaust pipe 10 communieatingv with the atmosphere. Fromadjacent the bottom of the container 5, there extendsa waste.

thereto. l

The other leg 12 of the W-shaped pipe is connected to a pipe 14 bymeansV of a one-Way Water seal 13', the pipe 14 'communicating to acontainerv 16 through any suitable plug or sealing means 26. This pipe14 is provided with any shut-01T The W-shaped" pipe has' control, suchas a pinch valve 15- ior` controlling the owof' gasV to this containervr6. The container 16` is4 'connected' by a suitable pipe l'lf' ex-PATENT y carica tending adjacent the bottom of the container 16 e0 andwhich includes a lflexible part 1'7a and communicates with amovablefcontainer 18 through a. sealing plug 27', said'pipe extending topoints adjacent thebottom of both of thev containers 16 and 18. Thecontainerv 16 is also provided with a gas outlet pipe 20 provided withany con-r trol' cock 20a'. Thev vcontainer 18 is raised or loweredthrough any suitable time operating means, such as a. clock-drurnj-cablearrangement as; indicated at 19` and the container' may be guidedvbetween suitable iixed guides 2'1 posi-- tioned on the base 24M-thedevice, the container having suitable spacers 22 of *anyl construct-ion,such as will allow,` free sliding movement ofthe container 18. Thiscontain-er 18 is also provided with anair vent 23 inthetop thereof.`Y

It will also be noticed that one-way water seals are provided with thesealing' plugsy 28, 29 and' 30fi'n the seals 2', 9= and 13 respectively,said plugs being suitably apertured to provide for their respective-inlet and outlet pipes. It will also be seen that when the valve 6lseals the gas outlet pipe 8 that there is established a head A wh-ich isgreater than that headffestablished at B by the water levels of thecontainers 18- and 16.

In operation, gas to besampled ilows from the*v source through the inletpipey 1 through' the water seal 2 up into the pipes. From there it flowsinto pipe 4 into the container-f' 5. Also, a portion thereof will" flowthrough the branch 12v into the waterseal` 13, but will not flow intothe sampling container-16 as that container is full of Water, or thecock.V 15 can be closed until iiowis established through container 5. Atthesamey timethat the gasv is introduced into the container 5, at asubstantially constant rate water is being introduced. to said containerthrough the pipe 111-. This water will graduallyl raise thel float valve6- in such time vthat it seals the gas outlet pipe 8. Before this is ssealed, the gas will 110W through the pipe 4 out of' the pipe 8 throughthe water seal 9 andout tha exhaust pipe 1'0, this: being aline of lessrresistance than through the pipe 12 through the water seal 13 throughthe pipe 1-4 yand into the' container 16 where it would Vhave to:displace' water in that container tothe then raised'Y container 18?.A

As the-water rises and sealsthe pipeV Sthrough the valve 6 and themercury-seal Sethereofr, the inowing gas and water build. up` a:pressure oi' the gas trapped in the container 5 to a point whereby asiphon is caused to be formed between the con@ tainer and the pipe 7,which will empty this container 5. The siphon determines the head A andthis head means that during each cycle, a gas pressure of A is appliedto the line 3 regardless of this line pressure. The gas pressure in theline or branch outlet 3 normally balances the head of water B betweenthe movable and xed containers 18 and 16 respectively, at the seal 13.When, however, the oat 6 is raised by the water entering thecontainer 5,thereby sealing the gas waste pipe 8, the pressure of A is maintained inpipe 3, this pressure A being determined greater than the pressurerepresented by the constant head B.

The pressure then in lines 3, 12 will overcome the pressure caused byhead B, causing the 'gas to flow through the seal 13 into the pipe-liandkif the pinch valve is opened, into the container' 16 displacing waterinto container 18. A continued flow. o1 gas will continually displacethe water in this container causing it to flow through the pipe 17through .the flexible connection 17e and into the container 18. 4Thewater head B isfrhaintained constant by lowering theI container Y18 bymeans of the clock arrangement y19, which is timed to correctly operatethe conti`ner.V This is an established head lso that there will befaproper flow from container `16 tocontain'er 18, the head B being lessthan headA,` it being necessary 'that this condition exists at the timethe valve 6 seals to prevententrance of gas to'contaiyner 5.

It will b e seenthat the water entering the container 5 willLintermittently operate the .valve 6 to close the overiiowpipe 8;therefore', the gas will only intermittently flow to the container 16,

which means that gas is periodicallytakren from `the main into *thecontainer 16 and there drawn onc at will through the pipe In collectingasample of the' gas by displacement of water, .it will. be seen that itis necessary to have .a uniform flow of water from the gas Vsarnplingcontainer 1,6 to the, movable or water receiving container 18, and as.the introduction of the gas dependsupon.audiiierence in the heads A andB, vit is therefore necessary to` carry a back; pressure in thecontainer 16 so that pressure diiferential is such that an amount oivgas passes ther seal 13 `at each interval proportionate to thel drop .Y

of the movable container during thatinterval. This back pressurevarieswiththe .lengthof time between the applicationsof pressureinline 3...This meansthat it'vdep'ends upon the rate of flow of water intothecontainer 5 and'should be adjusted ,when the apparatusis started lsothat no,- change .takes place duringthe sampling, operation. .lf, vthe.apparatusvis,starteduwithtoo high i a baclg. pressure, a smaller amountof gas passes ftheseal 13 at each interval until the proper back fpressure is established, By operating the apparatus a short time (untilan equilibrium has been established), the correct back pressure has beendetermined for any rate ofilow of water with the same back pressurethroughout the sampling period. The rate of flowoi the gas into the Agassampling bottle mustbe uniform at alltirnes.` f

With sampling low pressure gas, such as pro-.

ducer gas, or when sampling gas caused bytast'tck` draft such asiue gas,the operation is slightly different. ,At such times, the gasvis drawnintov the container 5 by thesuctionjproduced when the water is removedthrough the pipe 'l` due to the siphon action. When the siphon isbroken,the gas is forced through the outlet Aas the incomingy water builds upin thecontainer.l This continues until the float 6 rises and the mercuryseal 6a closes the outlet of the pipe 8, when the incoming water buildsup the pressure of the trapped gas to A, causing the siphon to againform.

It will be seen that with the water seals, the gas is only allowed toflow one way, as indicated by the arrows, so that gas coming from pipe 1can only go to the pipe 3 and not in a reverse direction; gas canonly gofrom pipe 8 to pipe 10, and similarly, gas can only go from pipe 12 tothe pipe 14.

I do not wish to be limited by the exact apparatus or operation shownand described as other and various forms will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art.

I claim:

'1.' In gas sampling apparatus, the combination of a pair oi'gasreceiving containers, the second of said containers being normallylled with water, a vconnection from a source of supply to each of saidcontainers, means for preventing flow from the second of said containersto the first container for supplying water thereto, an outlet from saidcontainer, said outlet being disposed to form a Siphon whereby saidcontainer' "rst of'said containers, a water inletinto'said v to closethe exhaust from said container'whereby f the Siphon is set up to forman ecective head to cause supply of gas to said second container, amovable receptacle connected to said secondcontainer whereby Water maybe forced into said receptacle bygas supplied to said second con-`tainer, means for moving said receptacle -at a sesupplied to saidsecond container,V and a gas'Y draw-off connection from said secondcontainer.

2. Ina gas sampling device, the combination of a pair oi connectedcontainers, one of said containers'having an inlet connection'ioradmitting liquid thereto, saidcontainers being connected by inlet. meansfor introducing gas serially 'to said containers, 'a Siphon outlet fordraining liquid from said first-named containenan outlet connection fornormally'conducting said gas from said first-named container, and amember controlled by the liquid level in said iirst-narned containerforcausing said gas to be supplied throughsaid inlet nieans' to saidsecond-named container.

' 3. In a gas sampling device, the "combination" to said containersaSiphon outlet for draining f liquid from said first-named containenanoutlet connection lfor normally conducting said gas from saidfirst-named container, and a member `controlled by the liquid level insaid inst-'named container for causing said gas tobe suppliedthroughfsaid inlet means to said second-,named container, continuedsupplyot liquid causing said Siphon to dischargeliquid from saidfirst-named container whereby said member is operatedto cause the gas tobe supplied to said rst-naiiied container.

GAYLORD I-I. HALVORSON;

